streaming

Amazon just made a move that has been both predicted long ago yet unexpected in its arrival. It will soon be offering a separate subscription tier for its TV and video collection that does away with annual contracts in favor of monthly piecemeal payments. Yes, Amazon Prime Video is finally going with a monthly tier. Although analysts have long seen it coming, no one was really able to predict when it would arrive. The timing, however, practically pits Amazon against the video streaming giant known as Netflix.

Soundcloud is probably not the first name that comes to mind when you think of music streaming. It is, however, the top dog, perhaps along with Bandcamp, when you think about indie music streaming. Today, however, Soundcloud is playing in the big leagues. It has just confirmed and announced its much rumored subscription tier, offering more serious subscribers a chance to take their music offline or listen without the interruption of ads. However, it also mark's the service's foray into record label territory, offering titles from the likes of Sony and UMG.

Yahoo and the National Hockey League have struck a deal that will bring up to four live streaming hockey games per week, giving fans a chance to watch games from outside of their market as they happen. The streaming starts today, and will involve a single “Game of the Day” being made available to U.S. users. This follows Yahoo's newly launched eSports Hub for esports content, and TuneIn's recent NBA deal.

It might be hard to believe that Sonos has already been around for more than 10 years, especially considering it was only in the last few years that its name really started to pick up traction. In that time, the music industry has changed drastically, shifting from CDs to MP3s and personal media players (PMP) to streaming. And now Sonos is undergoing a change as well. Not a good change, mind you. CEO John Macfarlane took to the company blog to announce something its employees dread to read. It is laying off an undisclosed number of its workforce.

Streaming music is normally associated with using the battery of your smartphone, which can leave you unable to make calls when you need to. A new device has turned up on Kickstarter that will eliminate the need for you to use your mobile device for streaming music and it is called Mighty. The device uses Bluetooth and WiFi and is compatible with Android and iPhone devices. It is able to play music for up to 48 hours without needing an internet connection.

HBO has revealed the number of subscribers on its video streaming service HBO Now, saying it has 800,000 paying users. The number was disclosed by HBO’s CEO Richard Plepler during a conference call today, a time during which he also stated that the company sees “an enormous amount of potential ahead.” He also stated the $14.99/month subscription fee will remain the established rate, at least for now, though it is possible it could change in the future.

It has been nearly a month since Netflix told the world at large that they were coming for their content. Or rather, that they would be stopping you from accessing content that wasn't available within your region. So what has really happened, during this time? Is it time to roll out the “Mission Accomplished” banner? Not quite.

Just earlier today I was writing about an interesting new way to stream perfectly legal content. Torrents Time is a new plug-in that will allow you to take any (legal and not pirated) torrent, and stream it straight to your browser. That's pretty cool, right? Well, it seems that an anti-piracy group has taken offense to the new startup, and issued a cease-and-desist letter to the founders of Torrents Time.

It's 2016, so we can't just pretend like torrenting isn't a thing anymore. We also still can't pretend that it's completely legal to pirate movies and TV shows. So consider this your warning that if you choose to engage in any of the activities listed below, that the consequences are your own. With that said, there's a cool new way to watch ahem perfectly legal videos.

Many users and would be users rejoiced when Netflix announced that it was setting up shop in 130 countries around the world. That glad tiding, however, came with heavy news for some subscribers. Netflix was hunkering down on users trying to access content not available for their respective countries, particularly those using proxies or VPNs. This hit home for US citizens who find themselves abroad, either permanently or temporarily, like US army personnel stationed in foreign bases. To them, Netlfix makes a special exemption, allowing them to use Netflix as if they were back at home.

Netflix has been threatening for a while to block proxy and VPN users and it looks like that threat has now come to pass. Reports are going around that people used to accessing Netflix via a VPN are now getting a message that they are being blocked.

When you get done watching a movie or show, Netflix gives you the opportunity to give it a rating. Unfortunately, you're doing it wrong. That's right, the streaming giant doesn't think you're rating things for the right reasons, and wants to change it.